Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles.

Long-Term Running Goals:

2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles.

Personal:

I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of nine children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew, Mary, and Bella. We home school our children.

I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.

Favorite Quote:

...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

The conditions were good. Well, not perfect, but much better than two weeks ago. Temperatures a little above freezing, mild wind, cloudy skies. Got some inversion, not sure how much of a factor it was. All in all today was the day of the Crocs' revenge.

We ran as a family. Joseph and Jacob had a close race with Jacob pulling away at the end. Jacob ran 41:14, Joseph 41:16. Jacob managed a negative split - 20:40/20:34. Joseph's I think was either even or slightly positive. Benjamin had a negative split 16:26/16:22. Mine was positive, but respectable - 18:05/18:20. Jenny ran 45:14, 5th woman overall. She made the mistake of starting too far in the back - her actual time was around 45:04.

Sarah found out she was pregnant a few days and took it easy today running 58:56, but she also started too far in the back. Julia was feeling better after the sickness last week, but still not 100% so she took it easy as well running the first 5 miles with Sarah, and then picking it up in the last mile. She ended up with 56:48.

Garek won in 31:24, Riley was second in 31:34. Benjamin ran with the for the first 2 miles at 5:10-5:15 pace, then they sped up to something around 5:05 and he did not have that gear. However, he held on alone quite well.

I ran alone the whole way. Garek, Riley, and Benjamin were too fast, everybody else was too slow - Rob Murphy was 5th with 38:36. This was definitely another lesson in the physics of friction. Comparative data between the races:

So based on that, runners in traditional shoes more or less doubled their snowy 5 K time in the dry 10 K, while the Croc runners were 1 minute per 5 K faster given the double distance on a dry road. That should answer Jesse Hornok's question from the previous race post.

My splits per kilometer: 3:26, 3:39, 3:41, 3:41, 3:40, 3:48, 3:39, 3:39, 3:39, 3:35. First 2.5 K was 8:54, last 9:00, so I was happy that I ran 17:54 5 K over the same course in the middle of a 10 K.